Google announced updates to the Chrome Web Store and Chrome OS on the second …

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Google has decided to beef up the Chrome Web Store in hopes of making it more competitive against "traditional" app stores like Apple's. Google will now only take a flat five percent of sales through the Chrome Web Store—not a third "like other app stores"—and developers will be able to begin offering purchases from within their Web apps. The store will also launch in 41 new languages and will be available to the entire Chrome installed user base, which may expand even further thanks to improved CR-48s and more Chromebook offerings.

The company announced the changes on Wednesday during the second day of Google I/O, where Google revealed that Chrome now has 160 million active users—up from 70 million just one year ago.

Google kicked off the presentation by saying that JavaScript is no longer a bottleneck for browsers and that the next stage is graphics, proving this point with a WebGL version of Microsoft's fish demo at 60fps with about 2,000 fish from within Chrome. This opens the door to a plethora of new offerings in the Web Store, such as a Web version of the popular game Angry Birds, which its developer Rovio said wouldn't have been possible a year ago. Google also demoed an interactive music experience with a 3D modeling tool from within the browser—which was met with applause from the audience.

Google also discussed the future of Chrome OS, with Sundar Pichai saying that the company is choosing to focus on the notebook form factor for the time being. More than 1 million people requested Google's CR-48 notebook from last year, leading Google to update the hardware with a dual-core processor, a better trackpad (can we get a "hell yeah"?), and improved Flash support this time around.

The company also added file management features to Chrome OS so that CR-48 users can do things like play MP3s and video files locally. The file manager is also tied in with Web services, allowing users to upload photos to Picasa or open a Word document in Google Docs. "Any Web app can register themselves and handle your local files," Google's Kan Liu told the crowd. That's not all, either: Google said it has been working with Citrix and VMware to ensure that conventional software could be used through the Chrome OS browser, which we think is pretty awesome.

Google also announced that it is adding offline support for Gmail, Google Calendar, and Google Docs for Chrome OS users, expected to be available this summer. And, the company said it is even branching out from the CR-48—Pichai said that Google is working with Samsung and Acer on Chromebook products. Samsung's offering will cost $499 and will come with 3G, an advertised 8-second boot, 8-hour battery life, and 12.1-inch display, while Acer's $349 Chromebook will have an 11.6-inch screen and 6.5-hour battery life. The two notebooks will be available to the public from Amazon and Best Buy on June 15 in the US, UK, France, Netherlands, Italy, and Spain, and Google says it will have various carrier partners available for each country.

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Jacqui Cheng
Jacqui is an Editor at Large at Ars Technica, where she has spent the last eight years writing about Apple culture, gadgets, social networking, privacy, and more. Emailjacqui@arstechnica.com//Twitter@eJacqui